CYCLING AND MOTOR NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2719, 25 April 1906, Page 59

CYCLING AND MOTOR NOTES.

AXSWER TO CORRESPONDEISrT. Fairy Motor. Kumara, — Write to Mr H. H. Smith, Farish stTeet, "Wellington.

BI DEMON.

1 hear that Sergeant-major Cardale ! has become the j/Oseessor of the tricar formerly in the possession of Dr Fulton. If Sergeant-major Cardale gets as good work out of this machine as Dr Fulton did he should be well satisfied with his new purchase. D. Hutton was a competitor in the motor cycle event at the Chrietchurcb Cycling Club's meeting at Lancaster Park on Good Friday, and when going well on his 2i h.p. Clement had the misfortune to ' have an accident to his carburetter. Hutton is fx> well satisfied with his showing against the northern riders, however, that I understand he intends to be a comr.etitor again _ in Christ church on the first available opportunity. At the Kaiap'oi meeting on Easter Monday Cecil Baker won the Five Miles' Championship of New Zealand. This is the race abandoned at the Nelson carnival, when the other New Zealand championships were got off. Neither Sutherland nor Randrup competed in the five-mile race at Kaiapoj, they racing at Terauka on Easter Monday. At the Temuka Bicycle Club's &porta on Easter Monday, the Wheel Race, of two miles, was won by M. Randrup (scr), with J. Arnst (20yds) second and G. Sutherland (ser) third. In tho Mile Open G. Sutherland (scr) was first pact the post, with R. Rodgers (130 yds) second and M. Randrup (scr) third. The Half-mile was annexed by J. M'Auliffe (45yds), who will be remembered as the winner of tho Wheel Race at the Dunedin Cycling Club's sporte, G. Sutherland (scr) being second and B. Rodgers (40yds) third* *

That the race is not always to the swift is exemplified in the riding of the ! New Zealand rider J. Arnst, who started eight times at the Easter meeting of the Temuka Cycling Club, seven times withoutsecuring a win. This non-success notwithstanding, Arnst. on his present form, must be considered as one of the finest track riders New Zealand has ever seen. His pacing at the above sports was one of the features of tho meeting, and it was in nearly every instance through his efforts that the scratch meu were brought up- to ; their - fields, and then Arnst usually . r-a.i sufficient- left in him to battle -out a fms.h witii those for whom ha had been dolour the pacing — 'though, of course, as could only- have been expected, without success. 1 doubt if George ''Sutherland, fine pacei though he was ' in Tits palmy days to his co-ridei Joey Barker, could have put up the performance recorded by Jack Arnst on Easter Monday. If the Arnst Brothers do make up their minds to have a gc in the ' six days' race at New York, I should not be at all surprised to hear of their success in that event. . - Mr Percy Eallenstein drove down from Christchurch last week in his 12 h.p. Darracq, and made the journey without mishapf, save for a bent axle when nearing Oamaru.* Thig" being fixed up, Dunedin was made in good time. While in Dunedin ! - Mr Hallenstein's car was frequently out | and about our local streets. j f 7 1 must compliment Mr W. Ritchie, I ; of the tramway power house, on the silence i v when running of his 2£ h.p. Rover. To j my mind this machine is ono ' of the , quietest running about our local streets, .a result directly due, I believe, tc the 'inventiveness of Mr Ritchie. Mr Free 1 Cooke, of the local firm of Messrs Cooke-Howlison, left for the Home country on Thursday of last weeK. Mr Cooke takes with him individual orders for some half dozen motor cycles, and will no doubt also return with something extra special for the needs of the firm of which he is a partner. * While in a local cycle agent's workshop the other day, I was shown the inner lube of a motor car tyre which had been punctured, and the hole mended with the latest Harvey Frost vulcaniser./ The patch being, placed on the tube in the required r position, - the tube is clamped on to the vulcaniser, which is heated oy steam up to s about 601b to the square inch. Some half dozen patches can be fixed, '6b at one time. On removal the patch ie found to be thoroughly incorporated in the tyre, and or running, one's finger over it one cannot tell where the patch ends and the tube proper begins. The device is of great utility, as it has been found that tho patch stuck on -a tube with the ordinary solution becomes loosened by the friction and heat generated when a car or motor cycle is travelling at a fast rate. Torn covers can also be treated by the same vulcaniser. — — Mr E. Stark has invented an ingenious device "or his Wo'.seley whereby at the completion of every mile a contact is formed and a bell rings and gives notice of such completion. Of course, the miles are also registered on the cyclometer, but it is very interesting to listen for the bell, and be in a position to calculate exact milet anywhere on the road. Mr Stark hasalso a gradometer fitted to his car, by which he can tell' the grade of any road he may be journeying on. During the race for the ten miles Motor Handicap at the Kaiapoi sports on Easter Monday, the machine driven by C E. Jones suddenly blazed up into flame. Jones was travelling at about forty miles an hour at the time. Slackening speed, he ran on to the grass and fell clear of the burning machine. By this time, however, his trousers, socks, and boots were saturated with blazing netrol. Several officials^ quidkly rushed to the spoi and smothered the flames with their coats. , Jones's trousers were not burned to any extent, but he •was considerably bruised and shaken am) had his wrist wrenched. The occurrence wag due to the breaking of a petrol pipe. A motor car accident, which might have been attended with very serious re-, suits, occurred at the north end -of the Waikouaiti bridge on Good Friday. Thecar, which was driven by Mr F. W. Payne, of Dunedin, was negotiating the sharp cornei just after leaving the bridge, when something went wrong, and the car ran ' over the bank, turning over two or three times in the descent. The occupants of the -tar, five in number, were thrown out, and although they were badly knocked about no serious injury resulted. The ear was considerably damaged, and was sent back to Dunedin by rail. On making inquiries later in the week I find that though Mr Payne is confined to his home his injuries are not serious. Mrs Payne is still suffering from the effects of the accident. Mr James Gray got off scot free, while Mrs Gray and the child were more or less bruised. The Wolsoley car was considerably damaged, one of the wheels being snapped clean off '< at the hub. In the pedestrian v. cyclist event at the Temuka Cycling Club's sports J. Riddell, a well-known athlete, met J. Arnst, of cycling fame, the conditions being that Riddell ran four laps on the outside of the grass traok, while Arnst rode eight laps (two miles) on the cycling track. Riddell completed his first lap before Arnst had ridden two, but Amst had matters even in his third lap. In his sixth lap Arnst had an advantage of about 10 yards, and at the finish he won by a clear 50 yards. Time : (Arnst), 4min 40sec; Riddell, 4min 45sec. As W as known for months beforehand rivalry was tremendously keen between Randrup and Southerland over the Enfield Cup Race at Ohristchurch on Good Friday, and when the "counting-out" process left only Baker and this pair in tho ex-Kaiapoi crack became such an important factor that with 400 yards to go the following gentle hirils were alleged to have been I given to Baker, who wae then leading

(says "Rover" in the Canterbury Times), Randrup, dashing' past Sutherland, "Go on, Cecil ; I'll " give • yon a "fiver to take me* through." And a second later Sutherland . shoota alongside, and 'Til give you a ten.-^ ncr; kick 'ft in." But the wily Baker preferred to trust to his own good solid pair of legs, -and^ "kioked it in" to such purpose that he collared the prize himself. ' This was Baker's first win in the Enfield Race, while Sutherland only wanted one win for the cup to become his own, he having won, the race on two previous occasions. . The Three-mile Pxovmcial Championship at thel Temuka sports resulted in a ■ dead heat between . G. Sutherland and M. Randrup, -^J, Arnst 'filling third place. H. O'Neill, G: Winter, R. Rddgers, J. Waldie, J. Shea, J. M'Auliffe, and J. Connell also started. In this race 'pacing prizes of 5s per lap' were awarded, decisions being made, from a secret mark known to the judge? only. The result, as was intended, wes that there was no hesitation on the part of the competitors in taking the pacjng. Tho pace set was so hot that those who -undertook it had to drop out. • At the bell only Sutherland. Randrup, Arnst, M'Auliffe, and Campion were left in. jCamnion quit half-w-ay round, leaving four only to finish. Randrup was first away at the bend, but Sutherland put in one of his old-time lightning finishes, and caught him on the post; Arnst, four lengths away, third. . Time, 6m in 50sec. s > More rubber is lost or wasted through deterioration o"r "'perishing"- (as it is commonly termed) than by actual wear- and tear, and many" attempts have been made- to* .-restore the .--"rubber to- its original' state. Thousands- of tyres are annually thrown • aside, containing jthousands of pounds^- o£-"^ rubber, decayed, and unfit to be useid for the. same purpose.-, It is now stated that a ' process has been discovered by which the material can be restored and used for the- j highest class of. work, and jf this proves to > be correct" there i? big money in the patent* while it may tend to ease the present high price of crude rubber. \ -Henri Mayer, the Continental rider, is not too pleased with his Australian trip, and is of opinion that if the promoters there, do not feel disposed to pay crack riders something more than the £6 5s agreed upon, very few over-sea racers will visit us. Some people are of opinion that this will do no harm ; time alone will settle it. Mayer says he is over £200 out of pocket on his trip, and that he would ,never have signed the contract had he kwiwn more • of the conditions of cycle-racing'-in Austral- , asia at the time. ' Walter Rutt has * somewhat better than" Mayer, his last wine- *. second in the Sydney Thousand — which ! netted him £100, making a considerable difference. He, too, has' expressed his dissatisfaction with the promoters' arrangements regarding appearance money, and will look further ahead before committing himself again, should he revisit us. ' ' ' ' It should be the aim of every driver toobtain and keep the correct petrol mixture, in order ,to avoid any unnecessary . waste of the spirit or deposits in the interior of the cylinder. The returns from the x Tourist Trophy "Race in tho Isle of Man..', last September show- how -much expert driy T ,v ing can do in this way.: The winning cSVfz'i an 18 h.p. Arro\-Jehnston, driven by Me'^ •T. S. Napier, "attained, a speed of over 3S' miles' per hour in the -fourth round, about \ 52 miles in length, and covered the whole distance- of 208£ miles on 65.7 pints, or nearly'2s£- miles'' on a gallon ofcpetrol, which/,, is an excellent performance for a car or this power. . The, majority of motorists fail to appreciate, or are unaware of the effect . that the fly wheel has on the smooth and; . steady running of a petrol four-cylmder engine. Tho greater the number of cylinders the less important becomes • the fly wheel. In a six-cylinder engine the usual weight of the fly wheel is about 201b. lo gain the same smoothness in running as a six-cylinder motor, a four-cylinder engine would require a fly -wheel weighing 901b, a three-cylinder engine 2241b, and a twocylinder engine 4481b, and a single-cylinder engine 11201b. Of course, these weights are . impossible in motor car use; consequently fly wheels of lighter weight are used, the , result being indifferent running. This explains the growing demand foT the sixcylinder engine throughout the world. Ib* cost is of course, considerable, but ttie elasticity and smoothness in running are more marked. Three years ago there was only one motor firm making six-cylinder cars-viz., the Napiei (Eng.),-to-day there are 35, and the number is rapidly increasin ?l_ London's motor omnibuses 12 months 'ago numbered 20; now they number^, and sreat additions to this total are expected^hort^.^ .g. g an nansion chamber of about five times «•< cubic contents of one of the cylinder of toe petrol engine. Into it the engine «uiaw«. and it has a valve opening to ,m atn.o Sere, this* valve being .openorl unae-o^ in time with the engine in »u*Ji a way that S is closed when the exk*nst port of each cylinder opens and delivers in* Pf°?«*»o f combustion into the expw* ?n Immediately afterwards the . wive opjto, and remains open when the piston is trave,linff fastest, and expelling the foul gases from the cylinder freely through the expansion chamber into the atmosphere. lne advantages of such an arrangement are claimed to be noiselessness and no back pressure. The particles of carbon and soot, are delivered free, and will not stick and settle on the cylinder walls, pistons, and valves. By freely • exhausting the products of combustion, the new mixture will be cleaner and will not be fouled by the burned substances which partly remain m the cylinder. . Cyclists who at every opportunity trail up a motor car to escape a head wind, or do a bit of fast pedalling, should note that an English County Court judge has laid it down that cyclists who indulge in this dangerous practice do so at their own risk, and must look for no redross in case of accident. , Mr Glidden, telegraphing to a friend in Calcutta from Galle, states that during his entry to that town he was assailed by no fewer than 175 pariah dotes. A tip given by a friend is well worth reproducing. Whenever you have- to replace or readjust a wheel, before- tightening the lock-nuts fix the brake 'if it acts on the rim, of course) hard on. This ensures thft wheel being fixed in a central position, which very few arc unless Ihe greatest care is taken in tho adjustment. The action o? tho brake does this when the lock-nuts .are loose. Anyone who will try this for themselves will see tKe value of the tin. The advantage of a perfectly central wheel adjnstm^nt is very great. If eithor ■wheel is! the slightest degree out of alignment wirf^ the other, it moans additional wear antf-

tear of the tyres, to ■ say .nothing of increasing -the work of impelling the machine. Ware apt to" be too careless upon such trivial matters, "but they .mean a lot. Says a. writer in T.P.s Weekly:— Thousands of men and women, living in the cities, have by means of the bicycle a key to a new world of beauty which otherwise, on account of the cost of entering, would have remained closed and barred. There is no rest to tired dwellers in towns comparable— with the refreshing hours spent in ambling along the characteristic cighwa.ys and byways of England. The bicycle, which has made a hundred miles in a day - possible, where ten miles once formed a limit, has done more than any legislation ever -will towards bringing our people back to the land.